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IntoNow 3.0 brings music identification, screenshots and group chats

Yahoo has released version 3.0 of IntoNow for iOS — the social TV app it bought in 2011 — with a number of new features that increase the social side of the app and bring new functionality to users.

Available in the App Store now, the stand-out feature from IntoNow 3.0 is ‘Music Sync’, a feature that identifies music playing during TV shows. Thanks to the new addition, any form of track — be it a jingle, background tune or live gig — is detected, with users then offered a one-click download from iTunes or the YouTube link.

Yahoo is also claiming a second industry first with ‘CapIt’, a feature that allows users to grab screenshots from live TV shows as they watch. The feature comes with standard options to share to Facebook, Twitter and across the IntoNow service.

Given that the Olympics are underway in London (as anyone that uses Twitter couldn’t have failed to notice), this is a neat addition that could prove popular.

Finally, with messaging apps all the rage on mobile today, IntoNow has added group chat. Users can create private conversations — either as a one-off or regularly occurring — to pour over the details of their favourite TV show, or perhaps the Olympic coverage…or lack thereof in the US.

On the service side of things, the company is utilising patented ‘SoundPrint’ technology to look up and identify content across more than 2.7 million airings. Yahoo reveals that more 160 channels in the US are indexed live, to help provide a quality second screen experience for iPhone users.

Adam Cahan, founder of IntoNow and VP of Product at Yahoo, pressed home the new innovation, saying:

iOS devices are pervasive in our living rooms, and second screen behavior is now commonplace. IntoNow wanted to up the ante and give people a whole new experience.

We’re the first to offer some major technological innovations – like the ability to capture and share moments that happened seconds ago on TV or automatically identify songs playing in the background – all of which gives people watching TV with IntoNow 3.0 a unique, interactive experience.

These impressive updates come at a time when competitors are gathering increased numbers. In the past, we’ve covered similar services such as TvTak, Wywy, Vualla and more, but IntoNow’s move to Yahoo appears to be bearing fruit, with a richer user experience developing nicely.

Not everyone has been so convinced of the IntoNow-Yahoo union, however. Writing at the time when Yahoo snapped the company up for some $30 million, our own Brad McCarty rightly explained that the startup could’ve held on, continued developing and targeted a higher acquisition price.

Nonetheless, the service is all set to expand beyond America with the UK likely to become its first overseas point of call. However, as Yahoo recently told us, there is no specific date for the British launch.

The Olympics (third mention!) is unsurprisingly driving current usage of the service, and the company revealed a few interesting stats about that. Swimmer Michael Phelps was the most mentioned person on TV, the London 2012 Opening Ceremony was the most checked into event while ‘swimming’, ‘basketball’, ‘beach volleyball’ and ‘table tennis’ were top mentioned sports from the early coverage of the 2012 Games.

Interestingly, the most mentioned word on NBC’s Games coverage was ‘London’ and not ‘fail’…pretty sure that wasn’t the case on Twitter.

Android owners will have to wait a little as these new features are exclusive to the iOS app, which can be downloaded to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.